The
show had 23 performers in all. The middle school students performed first-
playing the piano, strumming guitars, and singing. About halfway through the middle school
portion, a girl walked out alone onto the stage. We heard the first few piano
chords of Adele’s “Hello,” but when it came time for her to sing, the girl’s
voice was barely audible. She apologized and started over. Again, she struggled
to find a beginning pitch. The audience cheered and urged her to start again,
but after trying again, it was clear that she didn’t know what to do. The
weight of all the eyes in the room were too heavy for her and she was frozen.
The silent seconds ticked by slowly. I
knew this would not end well because I knew how this would have affected me at
her age. How would she be able to ever face her peers again if she were to run
off the stage? How would a teenage girl’s soul ever be able to recover from the
defeat of this moment?
But
then something beautiful happened. Bryce and the rest of the high school
students who were sitting on the front row waiting to perform began to sing,
“Hello, it’s me. I was wondering if after all these years
you'd like to meet...”
Then the row of students behind me began
to join in the singing... “to go over everything...”
The students in the audience kept singing and then yelled for
her to lead them in the microphone. Another student who had already performed
ran out on stage to stand beside her, put her hand on her shoulder, and
encouraged her to sing. Her dad came up the steps and stood on the other side
of her and placed his hand on her other shoulder. The entire audience sang the
verse and chorus with her, and at the end the whole auditorium erupted into
claps and whistles. What had started as potential moment of humiliation and
defeat for this girl, ended in a big smile and a moment of triumph. We had all
witnessed an enchanted moment. It was a moment where everyone in the room
stepped out of themselves for a minute and thought of the girl on stage and
what she needed at that moment. Tears flowed, not out of sadness, but out of
the magic of what we had all just witnessed.
Sometimes I have worried about the next
generation- are they too wrapped up in their phones and selfies? Are they whiners and lazy because of the constant
video games and television? That night, they
had all won my admiration and my heart. I am not so worried about this next
generation now. I witnessed compassion, bravery, kindness, and love poured out
for a fellow student. Isn't that what we all need in this life-people on each side of us, holding us up, telling us we can finish? We all need to remind each other that we are capable and worthy and can rise above the ashes of our moments of defeat. I
was more proud of my son for helping start that song than I was for him winning
first place. Awards and certificates will collect dust & fade, but a heart full of love for others lasts
forever.
